San Diego’s Dry Spell Continues

San Diego has only received a trace of rain since July 1 and yearly rainfall is also below normal. National Weather Service forecasters don't expect significant rain anytime soon.

San Diego's Lindbergh Field has received 3.10 inches of rain since January 1 which is 5.84 inches below normal for this time of year. The National Weather Service says 8.94 inches is normal.

While Los Angeles has picked up some significant rain this year, San Diego has only received a trace of rain since July.

Other reporting sites in San Diego County aren't doing much better. From Campo to Vista, the rain totals are below normal.

Stan Wasowski is a National Weather Service forecaster in San Diego.

He says there's a slight chance for rain this weekend in San Diego.

"Then the high pressure area rebuilds again for the rest of the weekend and into next week and all the way to Thanksgiving," Wasowski said.

Beyond next week, Wasowski said there's a system that could move into the Western Pacific and bring rain to San Diego.

"So maybe eventually that will send a ripple effect down our way in the next 10 or 12 or 14 days and maybe we'll finally see maybe a decent rain somewhere in the beginning of December," said Wasowski.

He says most of the recent storms from the north haven't produced enough rain to make a dent in the rain gauge here.

"People will always have a tendency to forget this is a desert here," said Wasowski. "We're in the middle of a desert. I wouldn't call it the Sahara Desert, but it is a desert. And you can go quite some time before you see any appreciable rain where you can get some benefit from it."

He says the storms that have come from the north through San Diego so far haven't produced much measurable rain in the county.

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Aired 11/18/09

San Diego has only received a trace of rain since July 1 and yearly rainfall is also below normal. National Weather Service forecasters don't expect significant rain anytime soon. San Diego's Lindbergh Field has received 3.10 inches of rain since January 1 which is 5.84 inches below normal for this time of year.